


As Lovely As It Looks

by theletterdee



Category: The Doctor Blake Mysteries
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Royalty, F/M, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:33:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27920836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theletterdee/pseuds/theletterdee
Summary: Matthew, a prince of a small kingdom, has been a bit of a hermit since his accident five years before. Yearning for a break from his princely duties, he ventures into the woods where he runs into one Alice Harvey - collecting herbs for a friend. After testing the waters with each other, they agree to meet more frequently - Matthew finally seeing the kingdom as it really is, and Alice getting out from under her abusive stepfather’s thumb. When Matthew announces a ball for the entire kingdom to attend, Alice is forbidden from going, until help arrives in the form of a fairy godparent.
Relationships: Alice Harvey/Matthew Lawson, Jean Beazley/Lucien Blake
Comments: 6
Kudos: 6





	1. Aglow In Autumn Yellow

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the newest au! An Ever After/Cinderella Matthew/Alice AU (and also a royalty au that amyspellmans on tumblr asked for MONTHS ago) please enjoy! Title and chapter titles pulled from Rogers & Hammerstein's Cinderella musical, which I don't own. Much thanks to randomkiwibirds and theloversandthedreamersandme82 for being wonderful sounding boards and helping with plot things for this! I really appreciate it. - Dee

_Bizarre and improbable and pretty_

_As a page from the fairy-tale books,_

_It makes you wish_

_That the world could be_

_As lovely as it looks_

* * *

She was almost there; Nanny was sufficiently distracted by her brother's wishes for a _quieter_ playmate, and thus her eye _not_ on the door. She wanted to see Mama this morning, and no one would let her, so - with all the muster of a five-year old could have - she would go to Mama herself.

A hand stopped her from reaching up to the door handle; it was gentle - Nanny had found her out - but still prevented her from leaving.

"Let me go!"

"I'm afraid I can't, Miss."

"I want Mama! Let me go!" She stomped her foot right as the door opened and her father stepped in.

"Whoa there, Miss Vee," he nodded to Nanny holding her back, and her father led her back over to the side of the room where her brother was still quietly playing. "I know you hate being cooped up in here, but that doesn't mean you get to yell or be rude."

"I want Mama, Papa," she felt her lower lip tremble and Papa swiftly pulled her up on his knee; her brother came over and snuggled up to Papa - sensing their father was going to stay awhile.

"I know you want your mother, Miss Vee, but she's a little busy right now, so I hope you're alright with just your dear old Papa."

At that she giggled as Papa kissed her cheek.

"But you know better than to be rude, so go apologize to Nanny and then we'll have some story time."

She nodded - so hard she thought her head would fall off - and hopped down from Papa's lap to apologize to her nanny. Once the woman who'd been her companion her whole life smiled and nodded in response, she quickly returned to her Papa.

"Now, do you want a new story, or the Favorite?"

"The Favorite!"

Papa chuckled at the unanimous answer, but he nodded.

"Alright, but you have to behave - which means being patient if we get interruptions."

"Yes, Papa."

"Good," he kissed both their foreheads and settled in for their favorite story.

" _Once upon a time, there was a boy and a girl who lived in two very different worlds._

" _The boy was a prince and grew up in palaces - surrounded by wealth, knowledge, and privilege, but he was a gentle-hearted boy well loved by his parents, and took his future of following in his father's footsteps very seriously. He studied hard and shadowed his father - finding respite from his studies in either the gardens or on his horse - but for all his studying, the prince largely remained in his palaces and rarely interacted with his people. Instead, he and his father relied on information of the Council to make their decisions, though the prince did wonder what it would be like to walk among the streets of the cities and towns - not as a prince, but as a common man - to see what it was really like. One day, he hoped to get his wish, but for now it was studies and meetings with quiet evenings in his parents' sitting rooms._

" _The girl was not royalty, wasn't even nobility, instead she grew up in a small manor farm in the country. Adored by her mother and father, she was the princess of her own little kingdom - ruling judiciously over all inhabitants (two-legged and four-legged alike) as she absorbed all knowledge that she could, and put the kindness her parents and servants showed her back into the world. Unfortunately, where the boy had a golden childhood into his mature years, the girl's life was fraught with tragedy. First, her beloved father died when she was very young - lingering on in her adulthood as faint memories of dancing and studying science together - leaving her and her mother to live on their own. Her mother, a quiet and kind woman, grew lonely, and in her grief met a new man - a charming one with a daughter she hoped would provide companionship for the girl. They married and shortly added another little girl to the family._ "

"Did the man like having a daughter, Papa?"

"Stop trying to jump ahead," he tweaked the end of her nose lightly. "But to answer your question, not really. He'd wanted a son, and wanted to try again as soon as the girl's mother was well enough; he'd never get his wish, as the mother grew unwell soon after the youngest sister's first birthday."

"Did she die?"

"Yes, she did," he kissed their foreheads again. " _She died, and for the girl the house grew dark - no longer the lovely little kingdom in the country of her earlier life. The girl's new stepfather was no longer a nice man - jaded and mean that he never got the heir he'd longed for from his first marriage and now his second. The stepfather treated the girl horribly - forcing her to be a servant in her own home, to look after the farm while he and his daughter lounged the days away; he hurt her if she pushed back or didn't work fast enough. Her only refuge from his rages, beatings, and the general nastiness of her stepsister were books and her baby sister; the books were some of the only things they hadn't touched, hadn't valued, and so the girl slowly read her way through the library of her father, and toiled away on the farm as she also cared for and protected her baby sister - dreaming of an escape for them from the gilded cage of her former paradise."_

" _This, however, is a happy story, and it's the story of how the boy and the girl meet with the help of fate, faith, and a little bit of fairy magic._ "


	2. In My Own Little Corner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Character introductions!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter of this fun, lovely au with introductions of characters! updates for fic in general might be scarce this month, my computer is acting up and it's going to take a month for the new one to arrive and I have to make sure THIS one survives until then. - Dee

Rolling away from the window and pulling up her blanket above her head, Alice let out a faint groan; she didn't want to get up - if she got up that meant a new day full of chores and biting her tongue around her _family_ instead of staying with her dreams.

What a lovely dream it had been, too. Her mother - alive and well - reading to her as they picnicked in the meadow behind the manor. What scared Alice was the way the memory of her mother's face was starting to fade.

' _I promised her that I'd care for Cora, just like I promised Cora that I'd keep Mother alive for her… what happens when I can't do that anymore?'_

She froze when her attic door creaked open and then closed; as Alice held her breath, the patter of smallish feet traveled across the floor - expertly avoiding the worst of the creaking floorboards.

"You know you're not supposed to be up here, she said even as Cora - her sweet baby sister, newly sixteen - wriggled her way into the narrow bed and cuddled close. "Your feet are also cold."

"The house is cold," her sister retorted. "And what Father doesn't know won't hurt him. I couldn't sleep anymore; Father and Aurelia still sleep and I knew you wouldn't have gotten out of bed yet."

"Ah, so I'm predictable, am I?"

Cora giggled and hugged her tight, "Alice?"

"Yes, Cora?"

"Can you sing the song Mother used to sing to you?"

Alice smiled and turned to face her sister; she kissed the top of her sister's head, "Of course, but then we both have to get up, alright?"

"Alright."

"Now, which song was it? The nightingale one?"

Alice grinned as Cora giggled and poked her gently in the side.

"No, Allie! The lavender one - like the dawn."

"Oh, right… the lavender song."

Holding Cora close as the girl settled in her arms, Alice kissed the top of her head.

" _Lavender's blue, dilly dilly, lavender's green,_ " she sang quietly so it wouldn't carry down into the main house. " _When I am King, dilly dilly, you shall be queen._ "

" _Let the birds sing, dilly dilly, and the lambs play_ ," Cora joined in - sure and soft from all the times Alice had sung this for her. " _We shall be safe, dilly dilly, out of harm's way._ "

" _Lavender's green, dilly dilly, lavender's blue. If you love me, dilly dilly, I will love you._ "

Alice smiled and blinked away her tears; it had been some years since their mother had died and yet it still stung. Her heart ached with the wish to hear her mother's voice again - and to remember her father. Cora, on the other hand, had no memories of their mother - only what Alice was able to tell her.

"Come on," she kissed Cora's forehead, "it's time to face the day."

Her sister protested a little, but helped Alice dress for the day - watching at first as Alice pulled on her appropriate undergarments and laced up her shoes for the day; As Alice pulled on her corset and tightened the laces, Cora came up to help her into the petticoats.

"Will I get one like yours, Alice?"

"Your fully boned corset, you mean?" When her sister nodded, Alice smiled. "Maybe, but you also might get one like Aurelia's - mine has less boning, more cording and suited for manual labor. Aurelia's is prettier, anyways."

"Yours is pretty too," Cora pouted a little - she always did when Alice talked down about herself - as she traced over the gleaming emerald green flossing of Alice's boning channels. "You can actually move in yours, too."

Cupping Cora's cheek with a faint laugh, Alice smiled, "It's a broken in corset, Cory, yours will get the same way after awhile. The boning conforms to you."

"Oh… I suppose. Blue or green today?"

"Blue, I have a feeling today is going to get messy and the stains show up less."

Her sister giggled a little and pulled out the rest of what Alice needed for the day; Alice quickly brushed and styled her hair into a firm up-do that would be out of her way for the whole day. Securing a kerchief to keep flyaways out of her face, Alice smiled when Cora helped her dress. She could do this on her own, but her baby sister always wanted to lighten her load.

"Perfect," Cora kissed her cheek.

"Thank you, now let's go dress you and hopefully get breakfast before the others wake."

In short order, Cora was also dressed - Alice spending more time styling her hair than her own - and her sister nabbed a scone to nibble on as Cook handed Alice her usual breakfast.

"You need to eat more," Alice gave her another scone.

"I am, but I also still have to eat with the family, and Father likes to make remarks if I eat a lot."

"You're _sixteen_ and a growing girl… shows what he knows," she rolled her eyes.

"Besides, I can sneak some scones for you later."

"Sweet girl, Cook already does that."

"I know, but I take care of you like you take care of me," Cora rounded the table and kissed Alice's cheek as she heard the bells start. "Meet in the library later?"

"If I get time, yes," Alice kissed her sister back and wiped her hands on her apron as she rose to start her long, _long_ day of doing her stepfather and stepsister's bidding.

* * *

Matthew groaned as sunlight pierced through his eyelids - the scraping sound of the curtains being thrown back didn't help either.

"Rise and shine, Your Highness," the _far_ too bright voice of one Major Blake cheerily called out as the man in question yanked the covers off of Matthew.

"I could have you arrested for this," he grumbled.

"For what?" Lucien asked him.

"Treason."

At that he laughed, "I don't think that'll work."

"Why not? I'm a prince, aren't I?"

"Fairy Godfathers can't be tried in mortal courts."

Matthew glared at him even as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Sitting up with a groan, and wincing as his leg acted up, he let Lucien take a look at it.

Five years ago, Lucien turned up out of the blue at the scene of Matthew's accident - going on about some nonsense that he was Matthew's fairy godfather, and Matthew thought he'd hallucinated the entire thing. He stuck around, however, and backed up his claims about magic and the whole thing, and so Matthew appointed him as his personal guard; Major Lucien Blake went everywhere with him, and Matthew was grateful (even if he didn't always show it). He knew his parents were thankful that their son and heir also had a guard after the accident that left him unable to walk without a cane - or ride a horse ever again.

It still stung, not being able to do what he could before, but he was thankful to be alive; he'd asked Lucien why he wasn't able to fix his leg to good as new, and the fairy went on about performing magic in front of mortals that weren't their charges (the guards were approaching too quickly) was a rule that no fairy could break - not even in the most dire of circumstances.

That sort of made sense to Matthew, it seemed like even magic users had to protect their own. Lucien's magic did make the pain more manageable, along with some herbal thing he got from the town from a lady that Matthew was very certain Lucien was trying to get to know better.

"What's on my list today?" He asked his fairy godfather.

"Meeting with your father's council, and I believe lunch with your parents, and then maybe I thought we could escape the palace for a bit."

"Escape?"

"You always say you want to get out a bit and explore, I thought we could start on that today if you're up to it."

"Like go out into the town?"

"Well, maybe not into town, but I thought a jaunt in the woods away from people might do you some good. You're exhausted and need a break from princely duties."

Wincing as Lucien worked him through his morning stretches (he'd improved with both stretches and his strength exercises since the accident), Matthew mulled over what he'd said.

"Maybe," he finally shrugged. "Let's see what new _concerns_ the Council has for us this morning… if you can behave this time."

"I always behave."

Matthew let out a disbelieving noise as he slowly dressed for the day - donning his favorite dark blue jacket over a plain waistcoat and trousers; Lucien handed him his finely polished cane and bowed slightly as they headed out of Matthew's bedchamber to start the day.


End file.
